peasevspoiseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pease” and “poise” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,149
“pease” frequency rank
#27,600
“poise” frequency rank
64749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pease poise
Definition Alternative form of pea (“common plant; its edible seed”). A state of balance, equilibrium or stability.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pease and poise apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pease
5 ch
poise

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pease (/piːz/) and poise (/pɔɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pease is recorded at frequency rank #37,149, classified as anoun, pronounced /piːz/. poise is at rank #27,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɔɪz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 64749, this pair ranks #76,163 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pease vs poise

Shared letters: eps. Private to "pease": a. Private to "poise": io.

"pease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "poise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peaseepase · paese · peaes · peasse · pesae · ppease
  • poiseopise · piose · poies · poisse · posie · ppoise

Frequency comparison

pease#37,149
poise#27,600

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pease" and "poise" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/piːz/ versus /pɔɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pease" or "poise"?
"poise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,600 in our English list, against #37,149 for "pease". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pease vs poise

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pease” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list